This blog addresses a variety of issues. I am a gardener's wife who loves to write and knit. I am a mother of six homeschooling in the classical tradition. Sit down, have a cup of tea, and enjoy my adventures

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Things are improving - slowly. But improvement is good and speed is relative. One drain tube was removed at our surgeon visit on Monday. We go back and hopefully the other one will be ready to come out next Monday.His appetite is returning in increments. He lost a significant amount of weight. What I notice is that he has lost a lot a muscle tone. His arms look really skinny to me - not that they were big to begin with but they look smaller to me.The children are doing okay. The 12yr old son had a melt down on Saturday but we worked through it. Not sure what was the cause. The 10 yr old son hasn't quite pulled his head out of the sand yet. He is trying - they all are trying really hard. We all have good days and bad days. This is how it goes when you experience a major life change. This is that marking moment in the children's lives. It will be things before the surgery and things after the surgery.On some of the trips to and from the hospital, I remembered the times my dad was in the hospital. Other than just before he died I know of two other times. I know that he had his appendix out when they lived in Detroit. He also had hernia surgery. The hernia surgery I remember. What I remember is before he went in to the hospital. He was sitting on the kitchen floor and couldn't get up. I remember when he came home from the hospital because we decorated the house with a welcome home sign and hid to surprise him when he came in. I don't remember how long he was in the hospital or how much Mom went up to see him while he was there. I wondered how my mom felt during those time. Was she as torn as I was about being in one place and missing either her husband or her children? It was hard for me to leave the hospital but it was good to see the children before bed or at least in the morning.

As time goes on I am sure to hear more from the children about how they viewed this significant event in their lives.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

So yesterday's post was quite depressing, huh? I still feel like my fingernails are just barely holding me onto the edge of the cliff. In the spirit of trying to find something good, as in "Count Your Blessing" or "There must have been something good", we will try to find the blessings that I can remember in all of this.First - this is the first time since possibly grade school when I have had such supportive and helpful friends. They were the first people I let know that Larry was in the hospital and their first question was how can we help. Not only was that the first question but when I stated how they could help, they said okay and just gave what was asked for. Isn't that amazing? I don't know how many times people will say how can we help and you state a direct answer and then receive - oh well, I am not sure about that. Not so this time. This time everything I have asked for, I have received. God is truly wonderful that way, especially in such a messy place.I am thankful that God also gifted me with the most awesome daughter. She has not only stepped up to the plate, she has continued to hit line drives and get things done. She has become my support - for good or bad - the person who discusses things with me because I can't discuss them with the dh at the moment. She is working with me and the younger ones to get a routine going so they are pitching in more and lining up behind her at the plate.It is still hard and I know it will continue to be hard while he goes through the long recovery. But at least I know that people have got my back. God has placed them there just for me. :)

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

My New Year's day was spent in the hospital. My dh had a septic nasty looking gall bladder that needed to come out. I was told several times that he could have died if we had waited one more day. As it was his kidneys were shutting down by the time he went into surgery and then his system suffered another shock when his oxygen saturation level dropped to zero after they put him under.He also had a pool of blood in his liver. So first they took care of the gall bladder. Then a series of tests were run because he wasn't recooperating well. This finally led to another drain being put in for the pool of blood in the liver. After 12 days he finally came home with drain tubes still attached.

Now we have to learn to adjust to this new life. For it is definitely different than it was before and things need to change. The hard part is that most of it is falling on me at the moment while he recovers. Things I used to be able to share I can't at the moment either because he is not awake or because they are stressers that he shouldn't deal with right now.My oldest daughter has been wonderful but if we are to survive it needs to be a team effort. It can't fall on me or her or just one person. We all need to pitch in. My 12 yr old son is doing a wonderful job of stepping up and taking some ownership of certain things. My 10 yr old isn't there yet and I am not sure how to get him there. My second daughter is trying.

Right now it is just very hard. I keep praying and asking for guidance and peace and courage. There are moments when I feel none of those things and it feels like I will never have them. We must trudge along as best we can even if it feels like we are moving fast but going no where through thick quick sand. Hoping to be posting better news soon.